Jeff McDonald: Suns come coach shopping

It’s long been known that as soon as the Spurs were eliminated from the playoffs, the Phoenix Suns would invite Spurs assistant Mike Budenholzer to interview for their head coaching vacancy.

It appears that interview will happen sometime this week, according to a report in the Arizona Republic. The newspaper reports that Terry Porter, a Pistons assistant and a former teammate of Suns GM Steve Kerr in San Antonio, was in Phoenix for a second round of interviews today. After Porter leaves, the team plans to bring in Budenholzer for his first sit-down with Phoenix brass.

Budenholzer, 38, has been with the Spurs 14 seasons, 12 as an assistant coach. He began with the club as a video coordinator in 1994. This season was his first as Gregg Popovich’s lead assistant on the bench.

Earlier this season, in an interview with the Express-News, Budenholzer admitted becoming a head coach would be a dream come true.

“I would love to be a head coach at some point,” Budenholzer said. “But I’m very, very happy where I am. I’ll just be a great assistant coach for Pop, and whatever happens, happens. If it never happens, it won’t kill me.”

Popovich has already given Budenholzer a ringing endorsement for the job, saying his longtime assistant “would make a fine coach in the NBA,without a doubt.”

“This is the time of year when people look to see if there’s a situation that helps them advance their careers,” Popovich said. “If we have someone who is in that situation, and gets some offers, we’re always happy for them.”

Budenholzer should have plenty of competition for the Phoenix job. The Suns’ official web site lists 10 candidates. Of them, only Porter, Utah assistant Tyrone Corbin and Houston assistant Elston Turner are known to have been called back for second interviews, according to the Arizona Republic.

11 Responses

Well, the Spurs are a world-class organization – that is evidnt by the fact that teams from around the NBA look at the SPURS when selecting a head coach. That being said, you can’t win all of the games, all of the time…even the best fall. What makes the Spurs or anyone else the best is that they determine what the problem is and how to improve upon it. Yes, Manu was hurt, bad call, yada, yada, yada, but the Spurs lost fair and square. Am I still a fan of the Spurs AND Coach Pop? OF COURSE!!!

Manu’s sore ankle caught up to us. That being said, the Lakers beat us fair and square: One non-call doesn’t alter a game, much less a series. I haven’t seen a best-of-seven yet that the best team didn’t win. It’s fair enough to wonder how we would have done with a healthy Manu, but that’s about it.

Well how quickly we turn on Pop. He is a great coach better than anyone in the NBA. Lakers well the no foul call on Barry was really the worst. If that had been Kobe the call would have been made. I agree the Spurs did not play well in the games they lost. The taunting after the final game by Laker players and Laker fans is not the way a championship team is supposed to act. Kobe taunted the Spurs the whole game. You will never see a Spur do that. I wonder how may cars and buildings will get set on fire and turned over if they win the championship. Some kind of champions huh. Go Celtics.

I want to repsond to a post made by Jude but I don’t know where to start. To blame the Spurs loss in the playoffs on Pop is to say the least ridiculous. Was Pop on the court missing shots, not getting rebounds, and watching Kobe score on them? Does Pop bear some of the responsibility? Of course. But he is certainly not the reason the Spurs lost to the Lakers. I have been a Spurs fan for 30 years, and have certainly enjoyed their success since David Robinson joined the team, and the 4 championships that have followed with Tim.

The problem with the Spurs is they have gambled with aging players and it has caught up with them. They have a great nucleus in Duncan, Parker, and Ginobelli, but the players that helped them win a championship last year did not come through this year. You could even argue that the big 3 did not have as good a playoff run this year as they did last year. Look at the numbers. Against the Lakers none of the big 3 played at a high level in all 5 games. It is unfortunate that Ginobelli was hampered with a bad ankle, and as a result we did not see the Spurs play the type of basketball they are capable of playing, but those are the breaks of the game. You not only have to be good to win a championship, but you have to be lucky (healthy). The Spurs are offensively challenged. You saw that during the regular season. Outside of the big 3 nobody on that team can score with any consistency. And at what point are the Spurs going to realize you cannot win with 2 of your starting 5 scoring two points (Bowen/Oberto). Bruce Bowen has been a fantastic player for the Spurs since joining them and he has been a key contributor to their success, but how long can you stay with a player that is such an offensive liability? I don’t care what anyone says, he has lost a step. He could not stay with Chris Paul, and all he saw of Kobe in the conference finals was the back of Kobe’s jersey. Now this is not a knock on Bowen, I don’t know who can really cover those players, but the point is he is not the shut down defender he was a couple of years ago, or even last year. Let’s face it, everybody gets old and loses a step at some point and I think we are seeing it with Bruce. My opinion for the reason they lost to the Lakers, and almost lost to the Hornets is pretty simple. The Spurs are getting older and having problems with younger and more athletic teams. I know we have been hearing that for several years, but this year it proved true. They no longer have that lock down defense they had during their championship seasons. Against the Lakers they just could not get enough stops during critical points of the game to prevent Laker runs. And unfortunately when they did get stops they were so tired they could not put the ball in the basket on the offensive end. I love this team, and we do not need to “blow them up”, but the Spurs management had better realize, to compete in the western conference they are going to have to get somewhat younger. They no longer can afford to draft players from Europe and South American and let them play overseas for 2-3 years. Their window for winning another championship is now. Duncan’s numbers are starting to drop off, and as soon as he no longer commands a double team in the post, the Spurs are in trouble unless they make some changes. To wait until the summer of 2010 free agent crop is a huge mistake.

I have a friend, Tom, in Scranton, PA who is a friend of P.J. Carlesimo. When the season began without P.J. I said to my friend, “mark my word, we won’t repeat without P.J.” It is no coincidence that 3 of our championships came during his tenure with the Spurs.

It wasn’t the Spurs players that cost them the championship it was the Spurs coach. For example, the last game of the regular season against Utah Coach Pop could have had Manu, Parker, and Duncan sit on the bench to rest. The result would have been the Spurs would have faced a much easier lineup such as the Rockets instead of Suns, Hornets, then the Lakers. (Manu could have rested his ankle more.)

That was a coaching decision.

Coach Pop came up with a winning combination against the Hornets when he started Manu after losing game 1-2 then went on to win 4-1 against Hornets with Manu as a starter. Then Coach Pop faced the Lakers and changed the plan.

Coach Pop decision to start Manu from the bench in the 1st and 3rd Qrt and refusal to adjust caused the Spurs to lose the series against the Lakers.

Manu caused the Spurs to make it to the playoffs then get past the Suns and the Hornets. In Game 3, the Spurs played better because Manu started very early in the game and played the start of the 3rd Qrt. (Normally Coach Pop don’t start Manu in the 3rd Qrt. He waits for the Spurs to get in trouble then calls for Manu.)

In Game 4, why did Coach Pop only play Thomas for less than a min but play Horry for over 15 min? The result-Horry only scored 2 points and made a game losing turnover.

Also in the same game 4, why did Coach Pop not even petition the Ref to reconsider his no-call against the Spurs. Why did he defend the call?

In Game 4, Coach Pop old thinking took Duncan out of the game right before half time. What was the result? The Lakers were able to get an offensive rebound off a missed free throw which resulted in Kobe making the last second shot. How many points did the Spurs loose by in Game 4? 2 points.

In Game 1, why did the Coach Pop remove Bowen and put Udoka to cover Kobe? What was the result? A Lakers come back.

Why did the Coach leave Oberto as a starter instead of putting Thomas in his place when Oberto played so terrible against the Lakers? Old thinking

Why do Coach Pop remove the best players when the Spurs are up by 14 or more points? Old thinking

The reason I brought up Avery Johnson was because he played for the Spurs and knows their style of playing. The Spurs have never faced the Mavericks under Johnson since he out coached Pop in 2006. I am not saying Avery is the man but the Spurs need to look for new way of thinking? The Spurs need to go out looking for another Head Coach and players who can shoot. But they need to keep the Duncan, Manu, Parker, Thomas, Bowen, and Barry.

The Spurs can get the best players but with that old way of thinking you end up with the same results that is what the Suns realize. I do believe the Spurs need some help but to trade Manu or not take full advantage of Manu’s ability is a costly mistake.

Manu’s game is assists, defense, then scoring. He draws defenders his way to create open shots for other teammates. Remember the 3-point shot by Duncan in game 1 against the Suns. The Spurs need Tony because he is a good shooter but he don’t draw defenders away from Duncan and other players like Manu do. Manu makes the rest of the team job much easier.

Another thing, why do the Coach have to stick with a preset game plan when it is not working. He determines about how many min each player will have. But if a player plays well during those min he still will take them out and put someone else in their place.

Coach Pop have a preset way of playing. If the Spurs were in the Finals, I could almost tell you every player he will start with during each quarter. The Spurs need another Coach because I don’t see Coach Pop adjusting his game plan. The Lakers Coach simply out coached the Spurs Coach because the Spurs coach has old thinking.

The Spurs went up by 17 points in Game 5 because Coach Pop kept the players that made the shots in the game. Then when the Spurs starting going up-coach Pop begin to alternate players instead of calling a time out and putting the same players back in. Next thing you know the lead is gone. Then when the Spurs were in trouble he decided to put the good players back in. But it was too late-the Spurs lead was gone.

It is difficult to type when you have tears running down your face. You call Sun’s fans whiners and then you blame the referees for the Spurs getting their ass kicked by LA. They lost 4-1, do you really think bad calls by refs caused that? Maybe it is because the Spurs are older than dirt, do you think? Of course not, you are a Spurs fan and will never concede that LA destroyed you in the playoffs.

I hadn’t realized that Coach Bud had been with the Spurs for all of Coach Pop’s tenure with the Spurs. For purely selfish reasons, I hope he remains with our Spurs. I like listening to his post game comments after Spurs games on the radio. I and many Spurs fans would surely miss Coach Bud if he takes a job elsewhere. But does it have to be with the Suns? I doubt that there are fans anywhere that whine more than fans of the Suns! Anyway, if Coach Bud really wants to be the head coach of the Suns, I wish him well and hope for the best for him. I must say that it will be irritating that yet another team may get another inside track on a blueprint for matching up with our Spurs as the Cavaliers, Sonics, and Blazers have already raided our management and coaching staffs over the last few years. I guess our Spurs just have to take that as a complement to the way our organization operates in the NBA, which now stands for National Blunder Association with the manner in which officiating has been doled out during these playoffs. By the way, as a fan of basketball, I will watch the NBA finals, but only to see which team gets the bulk of the calls. The Blunder Association must be in real quandry as to who gets the calls in this one, huh…